Falling Again
by Rollerwings
Summary: Holley Shiftwell returns to apologize to Tomber for shocking him, but both get carried away. Then again, maybe both were planning this all along.


_Rating: **T** for Chapter One, **M** for Chapter Two_

_Setting: The parts market in Paris, several months after the events of _Cars 2

_Pairing: Holley Shiftwell/Tomber_

_Author's Note: All characters are the property of Disney-Pixar. You are free to use any concepts from this fanfiction in your own work (fanfiction, art, etc.) if you'd like._

_I drew some (work-safe) art for this; click my deviantArt link in my profile to see it.  
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><p>"So allow me to get this straight," Tomber began, regarding Holley Shiftwell from behind one of the steaming mugs of chai tea he'd set out for himself and his unexpected visitor. "You flew all the way here to apologize?" He leaned back on his shocks, his attention drawn to a friend who was pulling down the blinds over her market stall for the evening. Most of the day's business was done, and night was setting in.<p>

"Siddeley did the flying," the young agent replied wittily. "I leave the international trips to him. It's nearly impossible to jet to Paris undetected when you're a car, and a bright purple one at that. I only use my wings and afterburner when the urgency of the mission trumps the need for secrecy." She sipped the tea, which the three-wheeled street vendor evidently preferred piping hot, for he had been drinking his in long draws without any sign of discomfort. When she spoke again, all levity was gone from her voice, replaced with a quiet earnestness.

"I didn't come this far _just _to apologize for shocking you during our first encounter," she confessed, "though that's a big part of it. I am genuinely sorry I overreacted and used the electro-shock on you, but although this doesn't begin to excuse my actions, I was a desk agent at the time and had never received much field training. Finn pressed me into service before I quite knew what was going on."

Tomber chuckled deeply. "He has a habit of doing things like that. At one time I was nothing but a laborer in a Moroccan impound, facing a dismal future behind bars and scraping by for everything I had, but Finn came to my rescue and look at all I have now." His gaze swept the shady parts shop he ran, which was admittedly dismal, poorly lit and cluttered with merchandise of dubious quality.

"Indeed, look at me now," he repeated, seemingly oblivious to the irony of his situation. "I'm a free car running my own business, and tonight I have the joy of entertaining a most beautiful lady." He met her eyes in a smoldering gaze, lowering his lips to the steaming, spicy tea that was just one of the many foreign foods and drinks he had purchased during his travels and saved for special occasions such as this one.

Holley tried to persuade herself it was only the extreme temperature of her drink that sent a sudden flush through her frame, but something in his voice suggested he had much faith in his ability to "entertain" female visitors, however many happened to find their way to his shop and for whatever reasons. So much for her belief that he led a solitary and lonely existence.

"It's good you're content in your life, but you deserved so much more. Finn is on another mission, but when he agreed I should visit you, he requested that I personally thank you for helping solve the mystery of that engine in our photograph." She briefly informed him that the "lemons" he had initially suspected had indeed been behind the plot to throw the World Grand Prix and discredit the so-called "wonder fuel" Allinol.

_"You _directed us to Porto Corsa, which was the break in the case we needed. From there we infiltrated their ranks and brought down their operation."

The Robin smirked ruefully. "You also took out seven percent of my customer base, between your mass arrests in London and on the oil derricks." He cast an eye toward his stacked tires. "I never knew who exactly was ordering all those thirteen-inch Rack and Minion specials, but now that I do, I'll never have that volume in sales again."

"C.H.R.O.M.E. has your number and an obligation to keep our detainees in good repair, so don't be surprised if your business actually grows. Unlike Zundapp, we'll keep them supplied with more than the minimal parts needed to keep them running," Holley reassured him. "You do run a valuable service here, carrying rare parts nobody else sees fit to keep in stock." She leaned closer across the low table. "And _you_ are valuable. It's not fair that you weren't by Mater's side when he received his long-deserved recognition. Aside from him, you were the only one who helped us outright."

"I know, he was knighted by the Queen," Tomber said in wonder. "Sir Tomber, I would have used the title with honor. But it would have destroyed my anonymity to be rewarded on worldwide television, even more so than a flying purple car might attract unwanted attention. I could never return home after that, and I like it here.

Your tow truck, you care for him deeply," he commented, changing the subject abruptly. "I could sense that, even though it seemed as though you had never worked together before when you came here last."

"We're dating," Holley said wistfully. "By sheer necessity it's a long-distance relationship, and it was only fair to him that I leave it _open."_Why had she seen the need to stress that last part?

"Open?" Tomber inquired curiously. "I wouldn't have expected that from you."

"What's so shocking?" she countered, surprised that he thought her to be traditional in her approach to romance. "My line of work precludes any chances for a typical relationship, and to tell the truth, he may not be ready to commit just now anyway, but we have too much of a connection to just let it go. This is working for us now, by mutual agreement."

"Whatever suits you." The smaller car stared forward pensively. "Being knighted by the Queen, that must have been amazing." Something about his recognition of the missed opportunity compelled the sports car to abandon her empty tea mug, joining him on the opposite side of the table. Her side brushed against his lightly, sending a jolt through her frame and leaving him wobbling slightly, centered over his single front wheel.

"I may be a far cry from royalty, but consider this a formal recognition of your deep intelligence, your generous willingness to aid us even at risk to yourself, and your overall loyalty." She bowed her frame, pressing her lips against his chrome grille. Holley barely had time to registered the unexpected trembling that rattled her before Tomber mischievously shifted his frame sharply, pulling her down with him so that their lips made contact.

...Contact that neither made any move to break, because, as if both their bodies were working against them, when Holley opened her mouth to gasp in startlement, Tomber cut off any sound she might have made by intertwining his tongue with hers. Her front end was pulled tightly against his in a spicy kiss. The spy's engine gave a whine of disappointment when he eventually broke it off, pulling back and grinning at her rakishly.

"Maybe it is my turn to apologize for shocking _you,_ mademoiselle," he suggested in a tone that was only gently mocking. It touched him that he had unsettled the young agent, who looked so genuinely stunned that she had let her guard down and responded sensually to his invitation. His smile faded when it struck him that she might not be evaluating any possible attraction to him at all and she might be chiding herself for nearly being seduced by a car like him. He couldn't hold a candle to Finn's suave, sophisticated manner, though it seemed to him that had the senior agent wanted to carry on with her and she with him, he would have have had her by now. Although her tow truck boyfriend was a rare case of someone outdoing him in the rust department, once again he couldn't hope to compare with his strength and his sociable, endearing ways.

"It's my unstable design," he said in an attempt to excuse himself, for now casting aside his self-doubt, "I scarcely notice it myself anymore, although that particular slip was apparently fortuitous for both of us."

"You said it," came Holley's answer. She took in his triangular frame with new eyes, noting he had a certain appeal that was as exotic as the imported tea he'd served. Curse it, for she had spent the entire trip to Paris questioning whether she could trust herself to present her apology as planned, express her gratitude and jet away with a promise to return, but in the back of her mind was always the undeniable allure of the shady, not entirely on-the-level little car who had, for his part, gone so far as to dismiss her as a rookie agent and someone he couldn't trust. He'd even torn into her for her impetuous decision to forcefully apprehend him, so why had she returned here, alone? She now asked herself whether she had come back solely to prove to the merchant that he had been wrong about her.

"Tomber...do you have a more private place we could continue this? I mean, these accommodations are wonderful, sipping our tea while watching the market close down for the night, but just as Finn needed a quiet place to talk to you last time, I wouldn't mind more solitude without someone coming in to change his tires while we're..." Her voice trailed off as the Robin regarded her with amusement.

"You need only ask and it shall be done," he replied, tugging down a wicker blind over the front of his "storefront" that clearly indicated business was over for the evening. What with the towering stacks of vehicle parts and the pull-down doors that separated his business space from the next car's, it was impossible to judge whether they were truly indoors or out, but their locale hardly bothered the agent as the Reliant led her through a door at the rear of his parts shop.

"Better?" Tomber inquired, though he moved confidently as though he already knew the answer, uncorking a bottle of fine wine now that they were in what was undoubtedly his personal chamber. Tapestries from faraway lands hung on the walls, and an absurd amount of candles of all varieties co-mingled their scents. Asking herself whether Finn had ever seen this room, Holley tried to avoid taking notice of the plush mat that occupied a corner of the apartment, instead watching the street vendor hustle around in an attempt to light all the candles.

"Yes, very much so," she replied, observing that he seemed to favor trinkets and souvenirs as quirky as himself. On one small table alone sat an abstract wooden sculpture, a religious carving, and a stack of ancient hardcover books bound in leather, their titles stamped on the spines in languages she would have needed her translator to decipher. Holley felt it best to address the growing tension between them.

"Nobody would guess you had such a cozy little room set up back here. Is this where you bring your best customers?"

Amusement flickered in his sharp brown eyes and he squinted at her. "If you are implying I accept the trade of 'favors' for rare parts, you are mistaken. Any affairs conducted in these quarters are solely personal and all business ends at that door." He leaned toward the battered wooden door through which they'd just entered.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." Holley's voice trailed off, as she wished she could put her tire in her mouth. Despite several successful missions, all with Finn McMissile mentoring her, she still _felt_ like a rookie desk agent underneath it all. She had not intended to insult the merchant's business ethics, for he prided himself in giving his clients their money's worth.

"But this is indeed the chamber of a worldly traveler." Her trunk lid brushed against some delicate strings of beads strung around the bed like a canopy, and the tiny glass globes draped over her roof. Holley hadn't realized they'd both subconsciously moved toward the very place she had tried not to draw her attention to.

"It is okay," Tomber reassured her, leaning in and reawakening the desires their first kiss had stirred. "You agents have difficulty separating your private affairs with your profession."

_Isn't that the truth, _Holley thought with dismay, guilt welling up over the fact that she hadn't even gone this far with Mater yet. She had visited him only twice in Radiator Springs, and although they had greatly enjoyed each other's company, it was as though Mater had made a concentrated effort not to find himself alone with her. Whether he had been afraid of what might happen if they'd let themselves get carried away or whether he wanted to avoid getting deeply romantically involved just now she wasn't certain, but Holley was willing to let him wait, and in the meantime he always had his "special friends," as he'd introduced the Miata twins to her, to stave off loneliness. Surely she could be allowed to make a special friend of her own in the meantime?

"You agents also have trouble relaxing," Tomber continued, guiding her onto the mat, on which he kept stacks of tasseled cushions. He fumbled for a dark glass bottle he thought had to be near the bed, finally locating it. "Take McMissile for instance. Not that I'd recommend or administer this treatment for him, but he gets so uptight when he's on one of his crucial missions that he's apt to burst a fuel line. Relaxing is good for your soul, it refreshes you and leaves you more aware of the world around you." Eying the attractive young agent he still could scarcely believe had an interest in him, he reached for her with a tire slicked with massage oil, caressing her side.

"Mmm, Tomber, you have no room to talk about relaxing when you panicked and fled from us last time," Holley sighed blissfully, impressed that he could balance on his rear axle and reach...her roof? Had he really gone that far? Sliding open one eye, she caught sight of him maintaining that expert balance while his treads worked away the tension she'd built up on the flight to Paris. The aromatic oil had the distinct smell of citrus, though it was soon lost among the multitude of scented candles and the incense cones he'd arranged on an ashtray.


End file.
